Calum Clark one of six Saints named in England’s Six Nations squad

The versatile forward joins Dylan Hartley, Ben Foden, Courtney Lawes, Lee Dickson and Tom Wood in the Red Rose group for the tournament, which starts on Saturday, February 2.

It is a significant achievement for Clark, who missed 32 weeks of 2012 after being banned for hyper-extending the elbow of Leicester Tigers hooker Rob Hawkins in the LV= Cup final in March.

The 23-year-old made his return to action in Saints’ 16-12 defeat to Leicester at Welford Road in November and has impressed ever since.

Clark has been named as a lock in the England party, alongside Northampton team-mate Lawes, and will be hoping for a place in the squad for the Six Nations opener against Scotland at Twickenham.

Meanwhile, Saints flanker Phil Dowson has not made the squad and will be in the England Saxons alongside tighthead prop Paul Doran-Jones.

England Senior Elite Player Squad (33): Forwards (18): Calum Clark (Northampton Saints), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (London Wasps), Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby), Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins),

Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Thomas Waldrom (Leicester Tigers), David Wilson (Bath Rugby), Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers),

Backs (15): Chris Ashton (Saracens), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Freddie Burns (Gloucester Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Alex Goode (Saracens), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), David Strettle (Saracens), Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers),

England Saxons Elite Player Squad (32): Forwards (17): Mouritz Botha (Saracens), Nathan Catt (Bath Rugby), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Paul Doran Jones (Northampton Saints), Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints), Will Fraser (Saracens), Joe Gray (Harlequins), Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers), Shaun Knight (Gloucester Rugby), Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors), Matt Mullan (Worcester Warriors), David Paice (London Irish), Tom Palmer (London Wasps),

George Robson (Harlequins), Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers), Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks), Billy Vunipola (London Wasps)

Backs (15): Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby), Anthony Allen (Leicester Tigers), Tom Biggs (Bath Rugby), Elliot Daly (London Wasps), Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), George Lowe (Harlequins), Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), Joe Simpson (London Wasps), Charlie Sharples (Gloucester Rugby), Joel Tomkins (Saracens), Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), Christian Wade (London Wasps), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)